On Sunday, in the United States Grand Prix, world champion Max Verstappen won his 13th race of the season, tying the record for most victories in a single season. This victory helped Red Bull secure an emotional constructors’ world title.
The 25-year-old Dutchman took the 33rd victory of his career after a dramatic late duel with seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes. This triumph came just twenty-four hours after the Dutchman learned of the passing of Dieter Mateschitz, the founder and co-owner of Red Bull.
At the end of the race, which took place at the Circuit of the Americas in front of an enthusiastic crowd, Verstappen finished 5.023 seconds ahead of Hamilton, with Charles Leclerc of Ferrari finishing third, ahead of Sergio Perez of the second Red Bull team.
According to Verstappen, “of course, it’s been a really difficult weekend for us, and this one is obviously dedicated to Dietrich himself for what he’s done for everyone.”
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“We had a significant opportunity to win the ‘constructors’ here, and of course, you want to accomplish that in style, and I think that we did that today.”
He continued by saying, “It most certainly means a lot to me, and to the squad, because he (Dietrich) was so important to the overall success of the club.”
The second Mercedes driven by George Russell finished in fifth place, ahead of the McLaren of Lando Norris, the Alpine of two-time champion Fernando Alonso, the Aston Martin of four-time champion Sebastian Vettel, the Haas of Kevin Magnussen, and the Alpha Tauri of Yuki Tsunoda. Russell also finished ahead of Yuki Tsunoda.
“I gave it everything,” said Hamilton, who is still winless in this season for the first time in his career. “It’s the first time I’ve ever been in this position.”
“I made every effort to maintain my lead, but they were just a touch quicker… Great strategy, fantastic race by Red Bull, and my sympathies to the team,” he continued. “Great strategy, fantastic race by Red Bull.”
“I’m completely broken. The automobile gave us a lot of trouble today. Being in the driver’s seat was an incredible experience. Throughout the course of the year, as a team, we put in a lot of effort toward accomplishing that particular goal.
“I had a great deal of faith. We are going to keep pushing, and in the next three we are going to attempt to give it everything we’ve got. It will reach us at some point in the future.”
Following the passing of Red Bull founder and chairman Dietrich Mateschitz on Saturday, the race started under ideal circumstances but with a solemn tone that permeated the paddock and pit lane.
As a consequence of this, any announcements on the fate of Red Bull for their budget cap breach from the previous year have been placed “on hold until further notice,” and it is anticipated that talks will pick up again the following week.
After a minute of applause as a homage to Mateschitz, the pre-race anthem began, and then the lights went out. Verstappen immediately took the lead as Carlos Sainz struggled to get going from his starting position on the front row.
The unfortunate Spaniard was engaged in an accident at the first turn when a charging Russell lightly clipped him, which caused him to slide to the back of the field and eventually retire with a water leak.
At one point, Verstappen was 2.8 seconds ahead of Hamilton and leading the race with ease. He was loving the opportunity to shine in front of the massive crowd at a circuit where he had won five times in nine previous appearances.
After the Briton had changed to a new pair of hard tyres, the rest of the drivers did the same. After 15 laps, Verstappen was able to regain the lead.
Following that incident, three circuits later, Valtteri Bottas lost control of the rear of his Alfa Romeo at Turn 19, which resulted in an intervention by the Safety Car before the race resumed on lap 22.
A further deployment of the safety car was necessitated by a significant collision involving Stroll and Alonso.
By lap 30, the order of the race had stabilized, and Verstappen held a lead of 1.7 seconds over Hamilton.
When Hamilton made his pit stop on lap 35 for new ‘hards,’ Leclerc moved up to second place and rejoined the race in sixth. The ‘under-cut’ that Hamilton executed on Verstappen pushed him to reply one lap later; nevertheless, he had a sluggish stop and it took him more than 11 seconds to take on a set of’medium’ tires.
Russell and Leclerc also pitted once more, and a discouraged Verstappen climbed back up to fifth place, where he remained until lap 39, when he overtook Leclerc.
After all of this, Vettel was in the driver’s seat, but Hamilton passed him at the beginning of lap 41 to take the lead with 15 circuits to go.
Hamilton pushed hard to keep his hope of claiming his first win of the year alive. On the other hand, on lap 49, Hamilton’s lead had been cut to 0.7. It was inevitable that someone would pass, and it finally happened on lap 50.
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